Prison Overseer Weathers Storms

Despite two major escapes, three suicides and the killing of an inmate in June, the commander of Palm Beach County`s two-year-old jail is keeping a steely resolve and a never-quit attitude.

``You do the best you can. You go to school on those incidents and you go on,`` says R.P. ``Bud`` Kerr, the jail`s lanky, silver-haired leader.``

Kerr`s intense pride in the jail has not been weakened by the troublesome events or the bad publicity that followed. He points again and again to a framed certificate on the back wall of his windowless office in the jail on Gun Club Road west of West Palm Beach.

The certificate, issued in November 1984 by the non-profit Commission on Accreditation for Corrections, attests to the jail`s exceptionally high quality.

Only 13 jails in the country can claim to meet the commission`s standards in every phase of jail life, including medical facilities, food and overall security.

``I think we run a good jail, a damn good jail,`` says Kerr, 55, a 14-year veteran of corrections. His ground-floor office sits across the hall from Director of Corrections Jerry Toles,` who supervises Kerr as well as officers at the Palm Beach County Stockade and the county`s Belle Glade jail facility.

Before entering corrections, Kerr spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, a fact suggested by his coffee cup, which bears the motto ``Aim High.``

Among problems Kerr acknowledges are inmate overcrowding and high turnover in personnel.

On one morning last week, 710 prisoners were being held in what is supposed to be a 630-bed facility.

Yearly turnover among corrections deputies (Kerr considers it archaic and demeaning when they`re called guards or jailers) runs 20 to 25 percent.

Currently, 40 of a staff of 184 deputies have less than one year`s experience. And that number will increase, because the jail is 14 deputies short, he says.

One problem Kerr says he does not have is abusive deputies.

Although three deputies have been suspended while the FBI and three other agencies investigate the June 19 death of inmate Mario Abraham, Kerr expects exoneration for the men at the public inquest set for Aug. 26.

``I don`t think any changes are necessary,`` he says.

Still, the pressure and bad press from the incident has hurt.

``You can have a beautiful track record and one or two incidents can bring you under heavy fire,`` he says with a chuckle and nod at Sgt. Robert Catanese, an 11-year veteran and the jail`s training officer. ``Heavy fire.``

``We`re all affected by it. We don`t like the publicity we`ve received recently. We don`t believe we deserve it,`` Kerr says.

On the contrary, he says, corrections deputies put up with abuse from inmates that can only be considered animalistic.

Feces and urine occasionally get flung at deputies and most have been spit at or harassed verbally.

``Everyday (deputies) must anticipate these things are going to happen,`` Kerr says, though he adds that such behavior is unusual.

``Our officers are in a criminal environment,`` Catanese says, and then is corrected by Kerr. ``Allegedly, Bob,`` Kerr added wryly, since the jail mostly houses inmates awaiting trial.

Deputies are trained for such situations, and follow the lead of the veterans.

``Sure, there`s a temptation to respond when an inmate spits in your face or whatever. The good officer is not going to respond,`` Kerr says. Verbal abuse is an occupational hazard.

Many, though, can`t tolerate the abuse or the responsibility of providing for inmates` needs. Those officers, he says, leave at the first opportunity to get jobs as road patrol deputies.

To prevent too large an exodus, the sheriff`s office requires a two-year stint at the jail before considering a corrections deputy for a transfer to the road.

Even for Kerr, a successful veteran, the words come slowly when asked what keeps a young deputy in corrections.

``I guess he`s finding some self-satisfaction,`` Kerr says. ``He`s doing something important. He`s a very important part of the criminal justice system.``

As for the abuse and the pressures, he says: ``You can`t take all of them to heart. If you do, you`re not going to last. It`s a tough profession. Tough. Tough.``